


End Game

by Penethia



Category: Star Wars, The Force Awakens - Fandom, The Last Jedi
Genre: A girl has to do what a girl has to do, Abuse of all the writing tropes, Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Ben doesn't have a clue, Not Beta Read, Rey is in a band, Taylor Swift - Freeform, for fun, one shots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 22:26:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15374706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penethia/pseuds/Penethia
Summary: Rey uses the power of pop music to show Ben Solo she isn't messing around anymore.She wants to be his end game.





	End Game

 

 

**End Game**

 

Rey isn’t accustomed to feeling nervous. The tightening sensation in her chest accompanies her need to tap the sole of her Converse high tops harder than necessary on the backstage floor. So much so that the sound crew cast her sharp glances.

 

“Hey,” one of them calls out finally. “Cut it out.”

 

“Sorry, shit, my bad. Sorry.” Rey mumbles lamely, trading her tapping foot for biting at the skin around her thumb.

 

A heavy hand clasps her shoulder. “Soul Sister,” says Finn, “you need to calm down.” Beside him Rose looks on, her hands stuffed in the front pockets of her neon pink hoodie. She smiles when Rey catches her eyes.

 

“It’ll be good, Rey-Rey.” Rose adds. “He’ll show up.”

 

Rey sighs, running an errant hand through her newly cropped locks. “That’s what I’m worried about. You don’t think this is a disaster of an idea do you?

 

Finn glances at Rose who nods. “No, I think it’s a bitching idea. Lady balls of steel and all that. Besides, even if Mr. Too-Thick-In-All-The-Wrong-Places-Solo still manages not to get a clue then you’ll know to move on. Yeah?”

 

“Yeah.” Rey murmurs as the first set begins their on-stage warm up.

…………..

 

Rey’s plan lit up like a lightbulb in her brain roughly two months ago while hunched down in front of her crummy and barely functioning laptop. Her adoptive father had offered to buy her a new one, but Rey had purchased this one her Freshman year in high school with the money she saved over summer working part time at their next-door neighbor, Mr. Solo’s, mechanic shop. She had been so proud of herself and felt attached to the dented, sticker covered computer. They had survived many a late essay writing and research project together. She wasn’t quite ready to part with it just yet.

 

It was a few ticks after 4:00 AM where she was, bleary eyed and yawning, but in China it was a little after 5:00 PM and Ben had just returned home from work. Looking at his face through the Skype window Rey can’t help but think how happy she is that despite their difference in age, an ocean, and half a continent away, they still make time to keep in touch with each other.

 

“Rey,” Ben said frowning. “Go to sleep. You know we can just e-mail each other.”

 

“I wanted to see your face, _Benjamin_ —” Ben’s frown deepened at the use of his full name, reserved for only when his mother was angry with him. “ _Oh!_ Your parents came over for dinner last night. Leia brought that chocolate cake you like so much.” Rey gives him a cheeky grin. “I could eat the whole thing by my lonesome, but Satine would have my head.”

 

“ _Mmmm_ ,” Ben hums taking a swig of his post work beer. “I do miss that cake. Not too long now.”

 

Rey perks up at that. “Too long until what?”

 

“How _are_ Robin and Satine doing these days? He still fencing with my gramps?”

 

“Obi and Satine are good,” Rey huffs quickly. “Now tell me, what do you mean _not too long now_?”

 

She watches Ben’s static image suddenly become very focused on peeling off the label on his beer bottle. He doesn’t look directly at the screen when he speaks. “I’ll be back in the States in two months. My contract will be up and I’ll be staying with my parents until I find a new job and place to live.”

 

“Ben,” she breathes, suddenly wide awake. “I…wow, that is great news. I can’t wait to see you—”

 

The door buzzer on his side rings in the small apartment. Ben glances behind him and then back to Rey on the computer screen.

 

“Food is here. We’ll talk later okay?”

 

“Bye, Ben.” She says as their connection ends. Rey rolls over and clutches a pillow to her chest, she stared up at her bedroom ceiling covered in cheap glow-in-the-dark stars and smiled.

 

Her parents had been away that week for a fencing tournament, and she left in the Solo’s care. Ben, having graduated the month before with his Master’s in Engineering, became her unofficial chauffeur at Leia’s insistence. After all, they had known each other since Rey was first adopted by the Kenobis. She was practically his little sister, Leia had argued.

 

Ben had taken her on a midnight Walmart run the summer she turned fourteen to buy her a birthday present. Groaning when she returned with an armful of bags of glow-in-the-dark stars. They worked until dawn to cover her bedroom in plastic neon stars. The two of them laughing, drinking soda _—“I’m not buying you beer, Rey. I don’t care if it is your birthday”_ —and listening to Ben’s old Green Day CDs while they made her room into a veritable galaxy.

 

Rey knew then, watching him stretch up on his toes to place stars where she couldn’t reach standing on her furniture, that she loved him.

 

He nearly broke her heart when he left for China the following week. Sobbing herself to sleep and worrying her parents sick, she swore to herself that she’d wait for him. Her mom thought her teenage heart would soon change and fret when Valentines and school dances passed by each year and Rey went with friends each time.

 

"Sweetie," Satine would coo. "I'm worried about you, it isn't normal for girls your age to not have some interest in dating." Pausing, she steeled herself before asking, "You know you can tell us if you're gay, right? We love you and whomever you choose to love."

 

Rey had sighed. The conversation wasn't new and her answer was always the same. But she smiled none the less because she loved Obi and Satine, they were her parents and nagged because they cared.

 

"Mom," Rey said. "You know who I like, and that just isn't going to change." 

 

……………………………………………………………

 

A month before Ben returned, Rey burst into Finn’s garage nearly yelling and sweating despite the cool weather.

 

“Guys, I have a plan and I need your help. Like, I’m calling in any and all favors you owe me for this one.”

 

Paige, Rose’s older sister, paused playing the piano. “Who are we killing?”

 

“What? No!” Rey cried. Paige laughed, where as Rose was all bubbles and K-Pop, Paige still had an edge of 90s grunge left to her and the humor to match. “I have a new song I want to cover for our gig next month not homicide, you loon.”

 

“What are you thinking, Rey-Rey?” Rose piped in, sitting across from Paige in a beat up folding chair.

 

Rey took a deep breath. “I want to do a Taylor Swift cover.” Paige nearly screamed with laughter startling both Rey and Rose. At the same time, Finn walked through the door leading from the garage to the kitchen with an armful of soda cans.

 

“What has Paige so riled up?” He asked, catching sight of Rey. “Hey! Cool, the band is here. We can start practice.” He handed Rose a can before tossing one to Rey.

 

“Rey wants to cover a T-Swift song and Paige is about to laugh herself into an early grave over it.” Rose replied.

 

Finn casts Rey an interested glance. “Yeah? Not our normal jive, why the change?”

 

Rey cracks open her can and chugs half of it, having sprinted three blocks to Finn’s when the idea popped into her head. “Ben Solo is coming home. He gets back the day before we play and I invited him to our show.” She says, eyes focused. “I need to get a message through his thick skull.”

 

Finn grins wildly. He and Rey were together all through high school, Rose having moved and enrolled during their Junior year, so he knows _all about Ben Solo_ from many of Rey’s exasperated, hormonal teenage rants and a few crazy games of truth-or-dare.

 

“Paige, I don’t want to hear another word about it,” Finn orders, its his band after all, while reaching for his bass guitar. “Rey, hit me with that song title. Let’s do this.”

 

………………………………………………..

 

Jet lagged and still adjusting to his internal clock going haywire from the sudden time zone change, Ben wanted nothing more than to sleep. Instead he was sitting in a dimly lit bar crammed full of people. Apparently, the lineup for tonight was good one, at least Poe had said as much, and it felt like half the town had showed up to watch. Ben’s red rimmed eyes and scowl must have been terrifying because despite the bar being packed and few familiar faces coming by to say hello, no one dared try to snatch up Poe’s seat beside him. A few minutes later Poe returned carrying two whiskeys on the rocks.

 

“Damn its good to see your old mug,” Poe shouts over the noise as he hands Ben his glass. “You’re going to love this, I swear. These kids are way better than the crap we used to play back in high school and college.”

 

Ben laughs. “I played the tuba.”

 

“Yeah, shit tuba.” Poe quips back. “I’m surprised you wanted to come see this.”

 

“My next-door neighbor is playing tonight,” Ben pauses, considering. Poe and he had run into each other accidentally outside the bar and struck back up as though it hadn’t been five years since they last hung out. “Why are you even here, Dameron?”

 

Poe grins, shrugging. “My lady love is a music major and is playing tonight. _The Scavengers_ is their name and they do cover songs. Pretty good too.”

 

Suddenly the crowd goes wild as four figures step out onto the small stage. Poe places his fingers in his mouth and whistles loudly. A tall, stunning woman with straight black hair looks towards the sound of his whistle and blows a kiss. Poe pretends to snatch it from the air and place it over his heart, sighing dramatically. Ben rolls his eyes at the scene and, looking at the other three members, it takes him a moment to recognize that the young woman adjusting the mic is his childhood neighbor, Rey.

 

He’s seen her face at least once a week during their brief online chats. Watched her change from an awkward fourteen-year-old into a lovely young woman. He’d be lying if talking with her hadn’t changed after she turned eighteen— _she just never seems to have a boyfriend, his mother often lamented_ —that she didn’t run across his mind more often than he cared to admit. Especially when he ate alone or made solo visits to popular tourist spots during his rare time off. Wishing he had someone to share the experience with, and then there she was, uninvited and smiling in his thoughts.

 

However, he realizes watching her through a small computer screen could never have done her justice. The converse she loves haven’t changed, but everything else has. Rey stands center stage, hips and lean legs outlined in black jeans with slashes running up and down, exposing the tan skin beneath. She wears a plain gray T-shirt and Ben can’t help but think she could wear a trash bag and still pull it off.

 

“She cut her hair,” Ben say out loud, absentmindedly.

 

Poe follow’s Ben’s gaze before letting out a low whistle. “Cute girl,” that smirk of his unnerves Ben and he is silently grateful Poe is enamored with someone else at the moment. “Wonder what they’ll play?”

 

Ben doesn’t get the chance to answer or dwell on his rising emotions before the only male member of the band, _Finn, he remembers him as Rey’s friend_ , steps up to his microphone.

 

“How is everyone doing tonight?” He asks and many members of the crowd yell and hoot back at him. “Good, good, for those of you who don’t know us we’re _The Scavengers_ and tonight we have a bit of a surprise planned. I’m handing it over to our stunning lead vocalist to give all you sexy people the low down. Alright, alright.”

 

Rey leans closer to the mic, red painted lips smiling wide. Ben thinks her hands are shaking. “Don’t worry. We will resume our regular programming soon.”

 

She pauses, presses her lips together, eyes closed, and continues. “This goes out to a good friend of mine,” Rey says, clinging to the microphone. “He’s back in town and it’d be cool if all of you could help me sing along. If he is here, maybe he will get the hint…one, two, one, two, three—”

 

Finn begins strumming the chords on his guitar and a few girls at the bar give a shout of excitement.

 

 _I wanna be your end game,_  
  
_I wanna be your first string,_  
  
_I wanna be your A Team,_  
  
_I wanna be your end game, end game—_

 

Rey sings alone, swaying side to side, eyes squeezed tightly shut. The entire crowd listens silently, the beat drops and Rey’s eyes snap open and she changes right there on stage. No longer timid, no longer shaking, she tears the microphone from its stand and leans back, rolling her hips, with a cheeky smirk she sings—

 

_Big reputations, big reputations, ooooh you and me would be a big conversation, ah!_

Strutting across the stage she sings back to back with Finn, shimmying down nearly to the floor and back up—

 

_Oooh, you like the bad ones too—_

Rey breaks away from him, crossing the stage, and to Ben’s shock descends the stairs into the crowd as Finn takes the mic and breaks into a solo rap. For a moment Rey looks bewildered, searching the crowd, and then Poe stands, shouting her name and points to Ben siting mouth open beside him. She switches gears and crosses over to stand directly in front of Ben. The spotlight shifts to illuminate them in the dim and the crowd loses their mind when they realize that he—Ben, struck speechless in the middle of the room, his face turning a distinct shade of red under the spotlight—is _the guy_. A few people behind him smack his shoulder as Rey brings the mic back up to her lips, hands shaking slightly once again.

 

 _I don’t wanna touch you (I don’t wanna be)_  
  
Rey reaches out, brushing her fingers across his cheek—

  
Just another ex-love (you don’t wanna see)  
  
Her fingers stroking lower and stopping in the middle of Ben’s heaving chest. He can’t break his eyes away from her. Someone behind them wolf whistles.

  
_I don't wanna miss you (I don't wanna miss you)_  
  
She leans in close, her knee resting on the chair between his legs. He swallows hard.

_  
Like the other girls do—_

She breaks away from him, Ben involuntarily leans forward in his chair to follow, and walking backwards into the crowd towards the stage.

  
_I don't wanna hurt you (I just wanna be)_  
  
_Drinkin' on a beach with (You all over me)_  
  
_I know what they all say (I know what they all say)_

 

She stops short of the stairs, leaning forward to shake her pointer finger at him.

 

_But I ain't trying to pla—ay!_

 

She winks before turning and bounding back up onto the stage. Ben exhales, realizing he had been holding his breath the whole time Rey was near. Heart hammering in his chest as loud as the drums, he runs a shaking hand through his long hair trying to avoid the knowing glances a few of the patrons were giving him.

 

Poe cocks his head to look at Ben. His friend’s cheeks burn red even in the bar’s dim light. “Well,” he asks, “did you get the damn hint?”

 

“Yeah. She beat me to it this time, but—” He shoots the rest of his whiskey in one gulp, watching Rey lighting up the stage as the crowd sings along. “I'm going to ask her out tonight.”

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Edits made. :)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
